Truth Behind the Gravestone
by Yuki no Kurai
Summary: We all know that Rosette and Joshua were orphaned, but why? How is it that an Apostle can take on demon horns at all? What is the secret behind Rosette and Joshua's birth? And what if there was a way to save Rosette from her pre-mature death?


Disclaimer: Chrono Crusade does not belong to me, it is the wonderful brain-child of Daisuke Moriyama. I do not have the mental capacity to create something this amazing anyway. But I digress. Please read and review!

I hope to make this pretty epically long, and though it starts out kinda focusing on Satella, it _is_ Rosette-centric. Promise. The beginning is basically a written version of the beginning of volume seven (the manga, not the anime); but I take it over from there, with a few references to the manga. I want it to be as close to the manga as I can get it, since I want it to be an alternate ending _and_ continuation, as well as an explanation for a few things that bothered me. This is the first fanfic I have ever written, so constructive criticism is very welcome. Enjoy the story!

_ How did we get from wanting to tear them to pieces to this?_ The young nun wondered exasperatingly. _I came here wanting a fight, thinking I'd have to in order to get Joshua back, and they invite me to dinner like I'm a friend!_

_ 4 hours earlier _

"We're here," says a young boy to his companion, timidly bending over to make sure his partner is alright. He appears to be about twelve years old, with plum-coloured hair that just brushes the shoulders of his dusty red ensemble, which matches his ruby-red eyes.

"What?! That was barely even a second!" his partner exclaims, coughing as the smoke from their entrance wafts away.

"What kind of contraption is this?" she asks irritatingly, as if it was all the portal's fault. With a navy blue nun's habit attempting to cover her unruly blonde hair and matching skirt with slits down the sides, the green holsters and pouches for extra clips she is outfitted with show that she means business. As she pauses to discern her surroundings with sapphire eyes, the boy says quietly, as if to himself;

"This is Eden." _…_s_ilence…_ "…it's been fifty four years," he murmurs, voice full of memories.

"Oh, yeah. You used to live here, right?" his companion states, remembering where they are.

"As a Sinner…like Aion and the others." Breaking out of her reverie, she gets back to their business.

"So what do we do now?"

"Good question. Let's find Satella first," He deliberates, looking over at his partner.

"Yeah," she agrees. "We could really use her help, and fast. Then we can go after Az, Joshua, and the other Apostles. But where do we start looking?" she inquires, glancing back at her partner. _…more silence…_

"HEY!" she prompts irately, as the boy refuses to meet her eyes, with a lost look of impending doom on his face.

"What the hell?! You're totally useless!" she yells, rocket punching him in the face.

"OW! How should **I** know where they are?!" He protests, flying back from the impact of her punch.

"Anyway, we need to be very cautious from here on out," he admonishes crossly, trying to look serious with a giant bandage on his face. "If they find out we're here…" He trails off warningly, considering all of the noise they made already.

"That's exactly what I want!" The girl interrupts loudly, cracking her knuckles in anticipation. "They won't make a monkey of me this time!" she declares, grimacing at the thought.

"I'm gonna finish off every last one of 'em!"

"Every last one of us, huh?" an ominous voice echoes mockingly behind her. Startled, the nun whirls around, looking for the source of the voice.

"Who…" she stammers, frightened in spite of her earlier boast. _How long has he been there?_ She wonders frantically, as the strange man nonchalantly swigs something from a bottle. The man wore a cowboy-style vest and hat, with chops over his jeans and a strange leather restraint over his eyes.

"Genai!" the boy exclaims warily.

"That mouth of yours is gonna get you into trouble… girlie," Genai smirks, tearing off a bite of chicken from a drumstick.

"Chrono!" he beckons, brandishing his half-eaten drumstick. "We've been waitin' for you. C'mon, I'll show you around. It's almost time for the final curtain call," he announces.

"But…" he drawls, pointing his dinner at the nun, "not you, dame. Sorry," he says, not acting sorry at all.

"This is the part where I kill you." Shocked, both she and Chrono stood paralyzed in stunned disbelief while he wrathfully continued his tirade.

"You think I'd take you to the boss? You killed Rizelle…" he spat coldly, "and now I'm gonna settle the score." The nun silently shuddered as a trickle of fear slid down her spine. Suddenly tensing as he moved, she suddenly realized she had drawn her gun, but couldn't remember doing so. Apprehensively, she trained it on him as he raised his hands to his face, partially removing the restraint over his eyes.

"I heard that somewhere…" Genai chuckled dangerously, "they put coins in the eyes of dead people to pay the boatman to cross the River Styx," he finished sadistically, as blood oozed down his face, causing her to shudder repulsively.

"Here. Lemme give you mine," he offered maliciously, as he fished dripping coins from his ruined and oozing sockets, the bridge of his nose between his eyes covered with crude stitches. Suddenly, he flicked one of the coins at her with violent force, and in the moment she took to deflect and catch the potentially deadly coin, he vanished from her sight.

"He's gone…" she muttered frantically, trying to recover from the attack.

"Rosette!" Chrono hollered in warning. Rosette glanced around to find Genai behind her, transformed from a devious-looking man to a lethal-looking demon. Gone were the coyboy clothes, replaced by a tight-fitting, studded leather outfit, with a matching mask covering his entire upper face; bat-like wings and metal spines sprouted from his back. Sparing no extra movement, Rosette whirled her gun around and rapidly fired off several rounds, which hit their mark, despite her skewed aim.

…or rather, they would have hit; if Genai hadn't sliced them in half, along with the landing platform. Frantically, Chrono leaped out of harm's way with Rosette in tow before they suffered the same fate as the unfortunate platform.

"Genai! What did you do to your arm?!" Chrono exclaimed disbelievingly, while Rosette hacked the dust of the attack from her lungs.

"It's my new toy." Genai stated gleefully.

"Not bad, huh? NOW LET'S PLAY!" He roared, charging at them with a malicious glint in his eye, brandishing the giant, scissor-like sword that replaced his left arm from the elbow down.

"Now now, Genai. What did I tell you about being gracious to our guests?" a disembodied voice intervened.

"She killed Rizelle..." Genai snarled, though his voice carried a disquieting hint of fear. Suddenly, the speaker appeared behind him, placing his arm around Genai's shoulders in a brotherly-like manner.

"We've had this discussion before, Genai. I don't like repeating myself." The stranger spoke in a reasonable voice, but the undertones carried a hint of chilling anger that sent shivers up and down Genai's spine, apprehension evident on his face.

"Fine." he said brusquely, stepping warily away from the speaker and sulkily reverting back to his human form, insolently leaving the portal area in a huff.

"Please excuse him. He's still bitter about Rizelle's death." He explained apologetically, pushing up the glasses on his face. Now that he was no longer partially obscured by Genai, Rosette and Chrono could clearly make out his silvery white hair and long white trench-coat.

"_**Aion." **_Chrono growled, the bitter hate in his voice twisting the utterance into something terrible. _So we meet again,_ Rosette thought frantically. _But I'm not ready! Can I really face him now?_ She wondered desperately. Sudden, deliberate clapping brought her focus back to the dark-skinned demon before her. With a grand flourish, he gestured to his surroundings.

"Well done, Rosette Christopher! You managed to beat the odds, despite all of the vast hindrances fate has placed before you. You don't have much time left, yet still you struggle against its restraints, trying to save your beloved Joshua. Such a valiant soul!" he said mockingly, before turning to face Chrono.

"And you, my little bird who can't fly. Have you finally come to rejoin the nest, or are you still trying to repent of your past mistake? Surely by now, you must realize that your attempts are futile. History has ways of repeating itself," he chuckled shrewdly.

"Well, shortly it won't matter. All the pieces are in place," he clarified vaguely, glancing at them from over his glasses.

"I'm glad you were able to make it to Eden. There was something I wanted to show you before the show. Won't you join us for dinner? We have so much to catch up on, Chrono. Fifty years worth."

"Okay, hold your horses!" Rosette interrupted, mightily confused. "Who's 'us'? And why should we join you for dinner anyway?! It's still four in the afternoon!! Chrono! What's with him?!" she shrieked, disgruntled by Aion's total lack of aggressive undertones in his behavior.

"Why, of course you can rest and wash up before dinner. I'm sure you've had a hard time of it lately," Aion answered, blithely ignoring her outburst. "And of course your friends Satella Harvenheit and Azmaria Hendrick will be joining us." Startled, Rosette and Chrono both looked at him with surprise and wariness written on their faces.

"That is," he continued, affably but with a whisper of warning; "if you promise to behave. Otherwise, I can't promise that the jewel witch will be in very good health when next you see her." Grinning maliciously at the look of fearful hate on their faces, he turned to leave the platform, beckoning them to follow. Growling with barely restrained hatred, Rosette motioned as if to attack him, but was held in check by Chrono.

"not now, Rosette," he sqeaked, trying to calm his partner down.

"But Chrono, he just—" she sputtered, outrage strangling her words.

"I don't like it either, but we can't, not when he has Satella's life in his hands. We'll get our chance, we just have to wait for it." he soothed, gently tugging her behind him as she reluctantly re-holstered her gun.

"Fine," she grumbled, "but I still don't like this."

As they cautiously followed Aion down a narrow hallway, they assessed their predicament. The quarters were too constricted for even close-quartered hand-to-hand, so fighting their way to freedom was out of the question. They really would have to wait for a more opportune moment, preferably with Satella, Azmaria, Joshua, and all of the other Apostles at hand. _Sh'yeah, like that was going to happen,_ Rosette thought bitterly. _Might as well ask the Sinners to dress up in habits and do a jig. _The Sinners weren't that stupid, she mused, wandering deliberately behind Chrono. Suddenly their guide stopped before a door on their left and opened it, motioning them in.

"This will be the lady's room. Fiore will be down shortly to look to your needs. Oh, and I'll also require that you hand over your weapons and the pocket watch."

"_What?!" _Rosette screeched, livid that she had to give up her only means of defense.

"Well now, we can hardly have you tempted now, can we?" Aion said, with a bemused smile. "Don't forget, you must keep on your best behavior. We wouldn't want…untoward…things happening to anyone in our care, now would we?" he queried, with just enough unsaid implications that sent a shiver of apprehension down her spine.

"…Alright," she submitted quietly, gritting her teeth. Unstrapping her guns and ammo pouches, she relinquished them into his hands resentfully. She felt naked without the comfortable weight of her guns at her side. Pausing before removing the pocket watch, she peeked over at Chrono, the simmering anger that she saw there before he gave her a reassuring nod helping to stable her own roiling emotions.

"This is only for now," she grimaced at Aion. "I expect it back. Whole," she added, not liking the masked satisfaction on his face.

"Of course, my dear. We wouldn't anything happening to your life, now would we?" he smirked, dangling the watch in front of her.

"No. We wouldn't," said Chrono softly, the quiet fury in his voice making Aion pause long enough to look at him.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't save her from Genai only to kill her later. She is going to witness the end of humanity. Can't do that if she's dead, now can she?" he reassured indifferently. "Now follow me to your room. You may see each other again at dinner. And remember to mind your manners," he said, leaving the room before closing the door behind him. Seething, Rosette flopped down on the bed, exhaling in frustration. _Man, this sucks!_ She thought, turning over on her back to gaze up at the ceiling. _And now I don't even have Chrono with me,_ she reflected dejectedly, wondering if they were ever going to get out of this mess. _Well, at least the room is nice. Maybe I can get a bath, _she contemplated, getting up to wander around her new quarters. Meandering over to an opening in one of the walls, she looked in to discover a bathroom, complete with an ornate tub tucked in the corner. Well, that answers that question. Stripping off her habit and throwing it on the bed, she had just finished ripping off her boots when she heard a knock at the door. Opening the door apprehensively, she glanced out to find a girl about her age standing outside with a set of clothing in her arms, as well as a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, and a towel.

"Here is a change of clothing for dinner, and some toiletries," she said quietly, handing them to Rosette, "My name is Fiore. If there is anything you require, please let me know." Curtsying politely, she turned to leave before Rosette could stammer any greeting or thanks. Closing the door gently, Rosette dumped her items on the bed, pausing to finish undressing and grab the towel before heading into the bathroom. Cranking on the slightly rusty faucets, she watched as the hot and cold water gushed into the tub, filling it nearly to the top before terminating the water flow. Sinking into the large tub gratefully, she mulled over their unusual quandary. Arriving at Eden expecting a battle on their hands, instead they are made to stay complacently, giving up their weapons and invited to dinner for who-know's-_what_ ungodly (no pun intended) reason. Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough, she thought sleepily as she drifted off in the comfort of the warm water.

Some time later, Rosette jerked awake, wondering how long she'd been asleep before hastily getting out of the tub and drying herself off. _Stupid!_ She admonished herself. _You should never fall asleep in enemy territory!_ Quickly stepping out of the tub, Rosette hurriedly put on the light blue dinner gown they had provided for her. Just when she had finished slipping on her shoes, she heard a knock at the door to her room. Opening it cautiously, she was startled by the presence of a very large, intimidating man standing just outside her door.

"I have come to escort you to dinner. Aion's orders," he told her curtly. "Follow me." Guardedly, Rosette stepped out of her room and cautiously took the massive arm he proffered to her.

"So, whom might you be?" she asked carefully, not wanting to offend him, but curious all the same.

"My name is Viede," he replied, not looking at her.

"I see. Would you happen to know what Aion wants with us?" Rosette questioned, despite her earlier carefulness.

"…I know that he wants Chrono to rejoin us, or at least witness his great triumph," he answered hesitatingly. "But you…I don't know."

"I see." _So even his fellow Sinners don't know everything,_ she mused. _I wonder what else he doesn't share with them, _she thought boldly.

"We're here," he told her abruptly, opening a large door leading into a vast dining hall. At the center of the hall was a table set for six, and at the head of the table sat none other than Aion. And seated around him were…

"Rosette!" a young figure cried, jumping up from the table and rushing at Rosette with a sob of joy.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're not hurt!" wept the young girl happily, leaping onto Rosette with an exclamation of joy.

"Azmaria! Are you alright?" Rosette asked urgently, gripping the girl's shoulders and holding her back to get a proper look at her. There were tears in her pale pinkish-red eyes, and her long silvery hair was slightly messy from jumping on Rosette, but she appeared unharmed.

"Yes, I'm fine," Azmaria said, smilingly wiping the tears from her eyes.

"So, you made it," a feminine voice broke in, approaching from behind Azmaria.

Rosette looked up to find a woman standing proudly with her arms crossed elegantly, Long auburn hair and matching eyes flashing in the light.

"Yep. We're both here. I see you made it here too, Satella." Rosette replied, steadily meeting the jewel witch's gaze.

"Well of course!" she responded haughtily, lifting her arms in a dismissive gesture. "**I'm** the one who showed **you** the way! Why shouldn't I be here?" she asked, looking at Rosette snootily.

What the hell! What's with that **attitude?!** I was just making a statement! You don't have to be a pill about it!" Rosette groused, pointing her finger angrily at Satella. Meanwhile, poor Azmaria looked back and forth at them, apprehensively trying to calm them down, and failing miserably.

"Um… Rosette?" a male voice timidly interjected.

"**What?!"** Rosette shrieked, turning upon the intruder with a frightening expression of anger on her face, a fist poised to strike.

"Uh… well… um, dinner's ready, so…" he trailed off, cringing at the look on her face.

"Oh, Chrono! Well why didn't you say so?" she asked, deflating as she remembered where she was.

"Won't you all please have a seat?" a cultured male voice cut in, "now that you all have had the chance to say your hellos?" Aion said amusedly, motioning toward the dinner table. Glowering at him slightly, Rosette walked over to the table and took a seat opposite of Aion's.

_present_

Once the food had been served, Rosette stared defiantly at Aion, after glancing at it.

"It isn't poi—" he began, then stared, astonished, at Rosette, who had taken a big bite before he'd finished speaking.

"I know you wouldn't have gone through all that trouble only to poison us later," she explained after swallowing. The others gaped at her speechlessly, shocked, before finding their voices again.

"Rosette—!"

"You idiot—!"

"Oh, be careful!" they started all at once, until Aion burst into laughter at their antics.

"HA HA HA HA!! Incredible! You are quite the young lady, Rosette Christopher. You're right, I wouldn't have gone through all that just to poison you. Not my style," he shrugged nonchalantly, a grin on his face.

"So, what do you really want with us?" Rosette interrogated him, glaring balefully as she took another bite.

"An audience," he replied intently, his calculating expression making all of them shudder. "An audience to the end of humanity. It is my greatest triumph, and a new beginning for demonkind."

"But why us?" interjected Satella intently. "Why us out of all of your enemies?"

"Because you intrigue me."

"Just **what** about us is so intriguing?" she questioned forcefully, frowning at him wrathfully.

Chuckling, he glanced over at Satella. "Well, my dear, you could say that I'm an old family friend. After all, your late father and I worked closely together once."

Well, what do you think? Review! Do it quickly, and I might find the proper inspiration to finish the second chapter quickly! XD


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